RIP: 4Live (November 2006-January 2008) more ›

Just when you think that everything is starting to turn rosy for Shanghai's live music scene, something comes along that hits you like a kick in the teeth. more ›

Well, at least the Live Bar we have known since Austinite Brad Ferguson took over the place, gave it a fresh coat of paint, new sound equipment, regular gigs and decent beer last October. We received these text message from Brad while at the Ziggy Marley show last night: more ›

We received an email yesterday from Fabrique telling us about a "re-opening" party on Saturday, and we wondered, How many re-openings can one club handle? But this most recent incarnation looks a little more interesting than previous ones. Zooma, formerly of the old Tang Hui and formerly of the new Tang Hui, is now the GM at Fabrique, which will now be known as 4 Live (same name as the party held at the club not too long ago). Here's the musical line-up for the re-re-re-opening party: Blue Garden, Honeys, Crystal Butterfly and Zooma himself. No invitation is needed for the party and there in no cover charge. Doors open at 8 pm and there's an open bar from 8 to 10 pm. The email we received said going forward 4 Live plans to have live bands before 1 am and "underground electro music" afterward. We tend not to get too excited about such things because the live music scene in Shanghai changes so frequently, but this at least sounds promising. It's a good venue in a non-residential area that is used to music and crowds. And with his connections, Zooma could potentially bring in some solid live acts. Let's keep our fingers crossed -- and hope they start adding their events to our Public Calendar. more ›

GigShanghai: Pinkertones, goth an the NFL? more ›

GigShanghai: Trannies, 5 dollars and moon cake more ›

Shanghaiist asked its contributors (and a few "music people" in town) to list their five favorite albums released (or yet-to-be released) somewhere in the world in 2006. Got a list of your own? Submit your favorite 2006 music as a comment to this post. Enjoy! more ›

The Shanghai live music scene really started to pick up in 2005, and thankfully occasional Shanghaiist contributor Brad Ferguson was there to document it with his camera. He has chosen his 12 favorite concert photos and posted them over at his website dedicated to the Shanghai underground music scene, Shanghai Streets. You can also view the pics at his Flickr site. It's an impressive collection, especially considering Brad only got started with concert photography a few months ago. To the right is a collage of the 361 live music photos Brad uploaded to Flickr last year. The amount of red in the image shows how much a boon to the scene Live Bar has been. Shanghaiist thinks the collage would make a nice cover for the 2006 concert photo calendar Brad should put out. more ›

Texan and Shanghaiist contributor Brad Ferguson has been busy hammering away at his latest internet project, Shanghai Streets, a site wholly dedicated to Shanghai's upstart rock music scene. It's already the definitive English-language resource on the topic (well, okay, maybe it's tied with Shanghaiist). ShanghaiStreets.net has articles (some of which might look very familiar to Shanghaiist readers), gig photos, a forum, venue listings and artist pages. And it's just getting started. Go check it out now. And while you are at it, visit Brad's great photoblog, as well. more ›

According to a recent survey conducted on behalf of London’s Birkbeck College, China’s soccer fans are as keen as ever on footie-behemoth Manchester United, with one important factor cited as being the opportunity for fans to see top players performing to the max on the field. “If they go to watch top performers in action, Chinese fans want to see them perform well,” the findings reveal. Well what a disappointment this season’s English premiership competition must have been to them so far. Ten points adrift from leaders Chelsea in the table, sitting ignominiously behind Tottenham Hotspur and minnows Charlton Athletic, and having suffered defeat at the hands of Blackburn, following which manager Sir Alex Ferguson was booed by his own fans, Man U’s sparkling performances have not exactly been coming thick and fast to delight stalwart Chinese fans. But you would be hard-pressed to predict that this love affair will do anything but die hard. Following this summer’s friendly between the English premiership side and Beijing Hyundai, the China Daily noted, “thousands of Chinese fans in the crowd of 24,223 in Beijing's Workers Stadium wore red Manchester United jerseys”. The club has its own Chinese website, www.manunited.com.cn, offering, among other things, an SMS information service for fans requiring up to the minute news on the team. Perhaps more importantly, the club also just signed its first ever Chinese player, Dong Fangzhuo, who debuted in the Beijing Hyundai Game alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand. However, it would nonetheless appear that the pre-match hopes of many a Chinese supporter have been borne out in what has been seen of the 2005 Premiership season so far. The survey reveals of Chinese fans attending the Beijing game that “many indicated they were at the game in anticipation of Beijing claiming a shock win”. With the way things are currently going for the northern England team, perhaps not such a vain hope after all … more ›